Hero Superstar
by AmeriShenokie
Summary: Fate has given Ivan a lucky backstage ticket to finally meet a now-famous-singer-Alfred since they last saw each other years ago. However, fame and fortune have gotten deep between them. AU. Rated M for future chapters; language, yaoi-sex, and drug use.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** ~ This was actually written on a whim. XD;; Hopefully this will get somewhere; I have a bit of a plotline planned out for it...

–

**Hero Superstar**

**Chapter One**

–

"Ivan!" called out a girl's voice from outside the said person's window, "Ivan! Are you home?" After a while, with no response, she soon gave up on thinking if he was home. "Maybe he's out," she wondered.

She was not alone; her sister was with her. "You give up so easily, Katyusha," she glared with a disappointed frown at the older sibling, turning her attention towards Ivan's window, "He's probably just hiding inside."

"And maybe he's not even home, Natalia," Katyusha still claimed, watching her sister walking up to the front door, "It's a nice day out after all."

"Don't be stupid!" Natalia growled intimidatingly as she started kicking and stomping at the front door, attempting to break it down, "I know he's home! My undying love for him can tell that he is!"

"But Natalia—"

"Shut up!"

After a few moments, a figure started to walk towards them. Katyusha was the first to spot the person. Her face soon lit up as she recognized who it was. "Ah, little брат!" she cheerfully called out, smiling happily to see that her younger brother had returned back home. She ran towards him to give him a hug as Natalia stopped kicking at the door.

"Katyusha!" he greeted, holding his arms out to welcome his older sister in a hug.

"Ivan!" Katyusha smiled, embracing him tightly, "You're home. Natalia and I wanted to visit and see if you'd want to go to the shopping plaza with us."

The youngest of the siblings had walked over to the two of them. She pushed her older sister out of the way so that she would be the one to face Ivan. "Yes, dear brother!" Natalia begged, holding her hands together and her gaze locked to Ivan's eyes. Her voice then grew low and dark. "Come with us," she added, "More importantly; come with _me_, Ivan... Just me and _only_ me....."

Ivan was never at all comfortable with Natalia's possessiveness, and times like now only made him wish that he hadn't ran into her. And poor Katyusha dared not to cross with Natalia.

"Eh... Um... Okay," Ivan agreed, trying to hide the nervous tone in his voice from Natalia's ears. All in all, Ivan had really only accepted because of Katyusha's invitation rather than Natalia's demand. Unfortunately, his simple words merely gave a wrong impression to Natalia, feeding her ego.

"Oh, Ivan!" Natalia swooned, holding tightly onto her older brother's hands as if it were deathly forbidden for him to touch anything other than her.

Ivan brought his eyebrows together as he lightly tried to free himself from Natalia's grip. But his sister merely tightened her grasp. "Let's go then, да?" he suggested, hoping it'd give reason for his Belarusian sister to let his hands go. It worked.

The moment she had loosened her grip, Ivan wriggled his fingers to regain feeling to them. Natalia then nodded, and soon started walking ahead to lead the way for her older siblings. Ivan and Katyusha eventually followed along to the plaza.

–

The shopping plaza that day was a busy hustle and bustle of people; a much larger crowd than what Ivan, Katyusha, and Natalia were used to before.

"I wonder what's with everyone here?" Katyusha wondered curiously, "It's like the whole town's here just to buy a couple things..."

Natalia just scoffed to herself. She wasn't all that interested in the crowd. "If they're not paying attention to my precious Ivan, I could care less at what they're gawking at over there," she simply stated, her eyes looking over to her Russian brother. She then walked over towards the other side of the plaza, with Katyusha soon following her.

Meanwhile, Ivan just stared at the crowd, but his interest soon dissipated when he heard his sisters started calling for him. He gave one last curious look before finally catching up to his sisters.

For the next couple hours, the three of them were busy browsing and shopping. And it wasn't long before the earlier experience soon faded away from Ivan's mind.

"I want to go get something over there!" Katyusha cheerfully exclaimed, pointing to another little shop in the distance. However, it was a ladies-only section, which meant that Ivan wouldn't be able to follow.

"How about you take Natalia with you, сестра?" Ivan suggested. Deep down, he was hoping that Katyusha would take her along so he wouldn't be stalked by her as he wandered around by himself.

Katyusha happily agreed; however, Natalia refused. "No!" she barked, clutching onto Ivan's arm, "I must watch over Ivan!"

"It's okay, Natalia," Ivan uttered, hoping Natalia would actually go along, "Go ahead. I'll..." He looked around aimlessly as he tried thinking of an excuse. "I'll go buy a surprise," he claimed, "And it wouldn't be fair if you were to see it before I were to give it to you."

His clingy sister quickly glanced up at him. "R-really?" she asked in awe.

"Да," Ivan reassured.

With that, Natalia released his arm and finally agreed to go along with Katyusha, granted that she were to really receive a gift from her older brother.

Ivan watched as the two of them headed in the direction to Katyusha's interest before he turned to head out on his own, wondering what to get for Natalia. Maybe he could get her a little trinket, but not enough to have her overly smother him.

The little shop that sold some of the perfect ones were near that huge crowd earlier. Ivan figured he could buy a little Matryoshka doll. He picked one out and as he paid for it, he looked over at the crowd.

"Sir, do you know what's happening there?" he asked the salesman, pointing out to the crowd.

"That?" he looked over, "That's the electronics shop. They have some promo going on that's taking everyone's attention. I've been in here all day, so I don't know what's happening. You'll have to go see for yourself." He put the doll in the bag and handed it back to Ivan. "Have a nice day," he smiled.

"Спасибо," Ivan said as he took the bag. He then glanced at the crowd when he left the shop and soon walked over to it.

He subtly pushed his way to the front to see this special "promo" that was going on in the shop. And his eyes soon lit as his eyes caught sight of a poster.

"_This weekend only!_

_Worldwide singer sensation 'Hero Superstar'_

_Be the lucky one for a backstage ticket!"_

This "Hero Superstar" sensation looked so strangely familiar to Ivan. "Alfred?" he quietly asked himself, his expression stuck in quite an awe.

Just then, the shop's alarms went off all around him. His first impression was that they were accusing him of stealing something, but he immediately realized that he hadn't even taken anything. However the alarms were not intended for theft, but for jubilation. The shop's gates began to close, making sure that no one else could come inside. "Such strange behavior," Ivan said to himself as he watched himself get trapped inside.

The shop manager went up to Ivan and gave him what looked like a ticket. "Look who won a chance at meeting_ the_ Hero Superstar," he congratulated Ivan.

Ivan was merely looked at the ticket and back to the poster without saying anything. He was still stuck in the surprise of finding out Alfred's fame. _"It's been so long since I last saw him,"_ he thought to himself, _"Ever since we were both..."_

"Hey!" the manager called out to Ivan, trying to regain his attention.

Ivan was soon snapped back into reality as he looked back at the man.

"You zoned out for a moment," the manager remarked. He pointed at the given ticket. "You won this to meet him," he continued, showing Ivan the poster, "Hero Superstar, backstage, up-close and personal."

Ivan glanced at the poster again, then back towards the crowd that stood behind him.

"Those people," the manager added, "They're after what you have in your very hands." He walked ahead, swaying his hand and gesturing Ivan to follow him.

"They are?" the Russian asked, noticing the manager and soon followed him. In all honesty, he was curious on why everyone behind him made such a fuss over—of all people he knew—Alfred.

"Of course!" the manager stated, weaving through the shop's aisles, "They all want to meet Hero Superstar, who's practically the world's current singing sensation."

Singing sensation? Somehow, Ivan found that rather hard to believe. Perhaps this Hero Superstar was someone else and not really the Alfred he was thinking of... Still, this fate-brought ticket he'd received will give him the answers.

"You're lucky to get that," the manager went on, finally stopping at a back door to the shop, "That crowd will tear you to pieces for that ticket. You know how fans get."

In all respects with that, the closest Ivan could relate was how Natalia would get around him; the mere thought of the concept caused him to shudder.

"Be careful out there, alright?" the manager said after a short pause, opening the door to the blinding day outside, showing Ivan a safer way out of the shop.

Ivan walked outside, quickly using his arm as a visor until his eyes readjusted to the outdoor light. He looked back down at the ticket quite curiously. He could still hear the crowd, now in a complaining tone than the excited cheers from earlier before he had walked in and stole what they've been idolizing longer than he's known of "Hero Superstar's" fame. He sighed and walked along the back allies of a few shops before revealing himself in the main center of the plaza, hoping he wouldn't get caught.

A few moments later, Ivan nearly jumped as he heard his name being called, but it was a familiar voice. He turned to see Katyusha waving and heading towards him with Natalia trailing behind her.

"What's that Ivan?" Katyusha asked, noticing the ticket in Ivan's hands.

"This? Just something I won from that crowd," Ivan explained.

"Other people touched _my_ Ivan?" Natalia snarled lowly, glaring in the direction towards the crowd.

"They didn't," Ivan lied, hoping to calm his sister down. Natalia just growled quietly. "Here's that surprise I got you, Natalia," he added, handing over the bag he got from the trinket shop. With that, Natalia had a faint smile on her face. Ivan knew the possible thoughts that could be going on in his younger sister's mind, but it was something that he would much prefer not to venture into thinking into detail.

"So what did you win?" Katyusha asked, getting back on topic.

"It's a ticket to this concert to see 'Hero Superstar'," he explained.

"'Hero Superstar'?!" Katyusha exclaimed. Apparently, she happened to know of the famous singer.

"You've heard of him?" Ivan wondered, surprised from finding out his sister's interest.

Katyusha nodded. "He's very popular," she told him, "I listen to him all the time!" Ivan now wondered how he'd never noticed before, but he then found out why. "But it was only recently," Katyusha added, "He's only fairly new in the music world. I guess he was a quick success from his first."

So that must be it.

Ivan could see that Katyusha was a bigger fan than he was. "Would you like this then?" he asked, offering the ticket to her.

Katyusha's face blushed at the little gift. "A—are you sure, Ivan?" she asked rather sheepishly in her tone. She'd feel guilty if she were to take away her dear brother's luck. But still; she did want to get a chance to see her singing idol.

Ivan hesitantly nodded. "Да," he said, trying his best to keep a smile on his face, "You appear to be a much bigger fan of him than me." And with that, he gave the ticket to his older sister.

Katyusha didn't know what to say as she accepted the lucky ticket. She looked up at her younger brother, grateful for such generosity.

Ivan just stood in front of her, his smile still plastered on his face. _"I may have missed out on finally seeing Alfred all these years,"_ he thought to himself, _"But at least Katyusha is happy."_

The three of them then started heading back home for the day.

"_And I'm pretty sure I might have another chance at meeting Alfred again anyway."_

* * *

_Translations:_

"Брат" (brat) – "Brother"

"Сестра" (sistra) – "Sister"

"Да" (da) – "Yes"

"Спасибо" (spasibo) – "Thank you"

**A/N** ~ I hope this fanfic took a good start... I'm never really good at starting fics out. lol XD;;; And there was going to be another part to the end of the chapter, but I think I'll leave that for chapter two; it's too long and kinda away from what's happening at the moment. Anyway, yeah... Alfred's this big famous singer apparently. And don't worry; Ivan will get his chance at meeting him soon enough. :'3 This _is_ a RusAm fanfic after all.....


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N** ~ Sorry for this being super late! Been working on a bunch of other stuff...

The beginning of this chapter was actually going to be part of the first chapter, but I decided to let it be counted in here instead... Mostly because I felt that it would've just made chapter one longer than it should be. :/ And I'm not one to make a chapter too long (because then I'd lose interest in writing)... I know; I'm a strange writer. OTL;;;

–

**Hero Superstar**

**Chapter Two**

–

Back home, Ivan went straight to his old collection of memoirs that he had kept since he was still a student back at the old Academy—where he once attended along with Alfred. He dug through the dusty box that had been sitting in his closet for the past few years, soon finding something interesting that caught his eye.

"Ah! My old yearbook," he smiled, gently opening its pages. One by one, he browsed its pages as the memories of old replayed through his head. He sighed and smiled with each picture he recognized. He remembered Alfred quite well; however, they actually weren't exactly friends way back then. They had only known each other from having similar classes and have spoken to each other on occasion, but nothing much more aside from than that. It was something that Ivan wished that could have gotten more.

Ivan soon had a visitor at his room door.

"Um... Ivan?" uttered a soft and timid voice.

Ivan turned towards his door to see who it was and smiled warmly the moment he saw who it was. "Katyusha," he greeted, letting his older sister know that she's welcomed into his room.

"I just wanted to thank you for the ticket you gave me earlier," Katyusha explained, walking closer.

The Russian gave a brief chuckle. "It was nothing, Katyusha," he said, still trying to keep a smile on his face over the matter. Ivan still wanted to have the chance to be the one to finally see Alfred all this time, but he prioritized his sister's happiness first. He still had memories after all, and he continued to rummage through the old yearbook.

Katyusha quickly noticed how deeply Ivan was into his book. Then she suddenly saw a stray picture on a page that had caught her eye's attention. "I didn't know you went to the same school as Hero Superstar!" she gasped as she knelt down beside her younger brother.

That confirms it. Hero Superstar really _is_ the Alfred that Ivan had known.

"Well, he wasn't all that popular back then," Ivan stated, looking at the photo with Alfred acting rather silly with a group, "Though, he liked to believe that he was the most well-known student at the Academy."

"I wonder how he got to be so famous now then," Katyusha pondered.

Ivan shrugged. "He never took a singing class through the time I've known him," he explained, "And he wasn't even part of a band then." He flipped through the yearbook's pages, searching for more photos of his old friend. "He must have gained more popularity after I left the Academy."

"Hmm..." Katyusha wondered curiously, "How long _did _you know him at the Academy?" She never recalled Ivan to even have mentioned about Alfred at all.

Ivan soon frowned slightly from his memories. "Oh, well," he began, looking at another photo in the book, "We didn't know each other for very long at all. He arrived at the Academy during my last year there; we didn't get to talk very much before I left." He sighed. "I wish we could have though," he added, giving a faint smile across his blushing face, "There's something about him that quite sparks my interest."

Katyusha sat there silently for a moment as she noticed how deep Ivan's words seemed to reach.

Ivan then gently closed his yearbook. "But I guess some destinies are meant to be crossed only once in one's life," he stated, trying to convince himself that a reunion would be doubtful, "It would just be awkward if we ever met again anyway..." He then gently closed the yearbook and held it close. "I wonder if he would even remember me back then," he chuckled with a sigh, his voice in a soft tone and his eyes closed as he was deep in thought.

His sister watched him as she listened to his words, and she could see just how much he really wanted to see his old friend again—no matter how much Ivan tried to tell himself otherwise and fill his own mind with such imaginary doubts. Katyusha could see past all that, knowing just what her little brother wanted, even if...

"Ivan?" she said in a soft tone, placing her hand on her brother's shoulder.

Ivan glanced over at her curiously. "Да?" he asked.

A few brief moments past by before Katyusha began to speak. Her eyes looked down onto the floor. "I know how you can see your little friend again," she responded, returning her glance back at him. Ivan kept his curious eyes on her as she reached into her pocket to get something. "How?" he asked.

"With this," she stated, revealing in her hands the ticket that she had to see the Hero Superstar that she was a fan of—Ivan's longlost friend, Alfred. She placed it into her dear brother's hands to keep.

Ivan was surprised at the sight of the offer. "Нэт, Katyusha," he declined, handing the ticket back to her, "I gave you this to see your idol."

"And I'm giving it back to you to see your friend," Katyusha countered, not accepting the ticket back, "After all, it was you that won it in the first place. Seeing an old friend has much more worth than meeting someone famous."

The younger sibling looked at her as he thought about it for a moment. He figured it was no use convincing the Ukrainian otherwise, so he eventually kept the ticket.

"Are you sure I can have this?" Ivan asked, trying to reassure himself.

"Very sure!" Katyusha nodded, setting her mind at just that. She only wanted to see her brother happy, and that was worth giving up that chance.

"_Maybe Katyusha is right..."_ he thought to himself. He looked up to her, a smile widening across her face. He soon got the same smile on his face as well.

_Translations:_

"Да" (da) – "Yes"

"Нэт" (nyet) – "No"

**A/N** ~ Again, sorry for the delay on this chapter (I hate being so busy). OTL;;; I feel even worse since this chapter is rather short... Maybe I should have just let it stay with the last chapter. But the next chapter is going to be a little more worth it (hopefully, at least).


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N** ~ Sorry for another wait for an update. OTL; Been busy with quite a bit of stuff—and I will be (likely even more) until around October because I'll be attending NYAF with my Russia (yay!). But I'll still try to see if I can fit a chapter or two before then.

This chapter is longer than the previous two, and ironically, it wasn't as long as a wait for chapter two. lol I hope it'll be worth it to you all that way. If not, I'm sorry.

I also want to say thanks to all my readers and reviewers! You guys keep me writing... :3

–

**Hero Superstar**

**Chapter Three**

–

The days passed by, and that one fateful day drew closer. No matter how much he had prepared for that day, Ivan still couldn't help but have mixed feelings about being reunited with Alfred again.

Ivan sat at the bus station, feeling the butterflies in his stomach. He had kept the ticket that his older sister had given him in his pocket. Pulling it out, he glanced at it.

"I hope this won't be an awkward meet," he whispered to himself.

It wasn't long until his bus driver called for its passengers to board. "The bus will leave in about two minutes!" he called out for everyone to hear, "If you miss it, you miss it! I got a schedule to stick to and a route to run!"

And with that, Ivan packed the ticket back into his pocket and quickly gathered his belongings. The last thing he wanted was to risk another missed chance. He went up to the driver to show his boarding pass. He wasn't the first to get on board; in fact, it was the last call to be given, and Ivan ended up being the last to get on the bus.

"You nearly missed your ride," the driver told him, trying not to give an attitude.

"I know," Ivan replied, not really feeling up to a pointless debate, "But I didn't."

The driver inspected his pass then looked back at Ivan. "Just take your seat," he retorted with a forced smile as he handed the pass back at him.

The Russian took his pass back and took one of the seats to the side. It was going to be a long ride if he had to face dealing with the bus driver's attitude. But he soon calmed his mind when he remembered exactly what this ride was for. He sighed. Yes, it will be worth it in the end. He then slept through the bus ride.

–

Within hours, the bus pulled into a stop, giving Ivan a bit of a rude awakening.

"For those wanting to hit it in the City, where you'll need all the hope and luck you can salvage to get," the driver said to his passengers, "You're here!" He opened the doors and left everyone to start to leave as he went to fetch his new batch in the station.

Meanwhile, Ivan yawned and stretched to wake himself up from his nap. He looked out the window to see the sun setting in the horizon's distance. As he stood up to get his baggage, he looked at his watch.

_7:14 pm_

"Only a couple hours more," he said to himself, soon getting back to reality to pack himself to leave the bus.

Upon stepping out of the bus, Ivan realized that appearances were deceiving. Even with the sun setting, the day's heat still lingered in the breeze.

He loosened his scarf, feeling the beads of sweat forming around his neck. Perhaps it wasn't really a good idea to wear it during this time of year, but he still had sentimental feeling to it that gave him the compulsion to wear it always.

"Maybe a hotel would be cooling," Ivan sighed, looking around to get his bearings. It was still a ways to the concert hall from where he was. He would much rather be close by to it than to walk all the way to it later. But he still couldn't bear going all the way in this heat, carrying his luggage around. He looked around for a taxi, but each one he found was either taken or off-duty.

"The city bus!" he realized, going as fast as he can to the nearest station.

The Russian only groaned in despair when he looked at the route schedule

_CITY LINE BUS ROUTES_

_On the dot at every hour._

That would mean...

"Next bus will arrive at 8," he sighed in frustration.

Ivan had no other choice. He picked up his luggage and started heading towards the nearest hotel he could find.

Fortunately, there was one that was down the block from the bus station where he was at, so it wasn't that far of a travel for him. However, the only upsetting thing was that it was the opposite way from the concert hall's direction. There were no other hotels in the vicinity, so it was his only option.

–

When he finally reached the hotel's doors, Ivan sighed contently from the air conditioning that flowed against him as he walked inside to the huge lobby. After a moment of cooling off from being outside, he went up to the receptionist's desk.

Busily working on his papers, the receptionist noticed a shadow walking up to him. He paused at his work and glanced up at the tall man. "Can I help you?" he asked, wanting it to be quick.

"I need a room for tonight," Ivan explained.

"Knowing that I've never seen you before, I'd assumed that," the receptionist retorted, "It's only standards of regulations that I even ask you that." With that, he went back to work on his papers.

Ivan just stood there, silent and feeling hopeless and rather confused towards the attitude he just faced.

"And what card will you be using?" the receptionist asked, still continuing on his paperwork.

"Card?" Ivan asked, smiling sheepishly, "You haven't given me any card yet." He had assumed that by "card" it was his room key.

"No," the receptionist explained, expecting Ivan to know what he had meant, "I meant by what card will you be _paying_ with for your room?"

Ivan just looked at him, more confused than before. "But," he said, "I... I don't have any card."

The receptionist then paused in his work and looked up at Ivan as if he were nothing more than a waste of his time. "Young man," he sneered, "If you don't plan on paying for your hotel room, then I simply must say that you _can't_ get one—certainly not for free!"

"But I _do_ plan to pay," Ivan clarified, pulling out some of his money from his pocket.

The receptionist merely looked at it as if it were simply paper in Ivan's hands. "Due to possible crime raids," he explained, "We no longer accept payments by cash. Sorry."

"But I don't have a card!" Ivan told him, getting a little worried in his tone. If he couldn't get a place to stay for the night, then what can he do? "Please! I have this very important event to attend to tonight at the concert hall, and I really need a place to stay!"

"Then there's absolutely nothing that I can do about that, is there?" the receptionist responded, as if he could really care less.

Ivan just glared before he started to turn away.

"I am sorry," he added, soon getting back to his paperwork.

"Да," Ivan muttered under his breath as he began walking away from the desk, "Sorry for your dissatisfying business..."

However, just before he was about to exit through the doors into the hot-filled evening, he heard someone else addressing him from behind. "Sir! Oh, sir!" he heard the other call out.

"Hmm?" Ivan wondered, turning curiously to see who was trying to get his attention, "Do you mean me?"

The other young man then suddenly froze. For some reason, just the sight of Ivan made him tremble. "Y-yes, I did, sir," he said, rather submissive in his tone, "I just overheard your conversation just now—not that I was _purposely_ listening in to it—but it was just when you mentioned about the concert hall."

Ivan grew even more intrigued. "What about it?" he asked.

"Well... I'm the chauffeur of the one who will be performing for tonight," he explained.

"Alfr—I mean, 'Hero Superstar'?" Ivan guessed as he corrected himself.

The chauffeur nodded. "And I know of the contest that went on a while ago," he continued, "If you're the one who's supposed to meet with him tonight, I can simply drive you to the concert hall myself." However, deep down, he was actually hoping that Ivan being said person was simply a misunderstanding, which, unfortunately for him, wasn't at all likely.

"Ah! You really can?" Ivan gasped excitedly. Finally! Someone who was showing some hospitality of his arrival.

"It'll be no problem at all," he reassured, trying to hide away any sign of him really not wanting to. Nothing he can really do about it now—he _did_ make the offer out to Ivan, after all. "Just follow me out to the car," he added, leading the way outside to the hotel's parking lot.

"Okay," Ivan said, soon following the driver.

"My name's Toris, by the way," the driver introduced himself as they both walked to through the parking lot.

That name somehow seemed rather familiar to Ivan's mind. Could he have known someone by that name before too? For a brief second, that thought lingered in him. "I'm Ivan," he replied.

Again, Toris nearly froze in his tracks as hearing that name almost caused chills to run down his spine. That name—Ivan-seemed so very familiar, yet he was unable to pinpoint to exactly what or how it made any sense. He, however, managed to quickly shake it off from his troubled mind over it. "Now at least we won't be strangers in the car," he joked, forcing a chuckle for an added effect.

Toris opened the back of the car for Ivan, and as soon as he sat inside of it and the door shut, the young Lithuanian shuddered briefly before walking back to the driver's side. He cleared his throat and tried to regain his composure before getting into the car.

Once inside, Toris started the car. "So, have you been a fan of Hero Superstar for long?" he asked, pulling out of the hotel's parking lot, trying to form a conversation with Ivan. He figured that if the overall atmosphere was too quiet, his passenger could possibly do harm—why could he be having thoughts of Ivan hijacking the car? He seems the type; at least to his eyes. Toris, for his sake, quickly tossed those ideas off as mere paranoia.

Ivan actually didn't know how to phrase that. He had known Alfred since their school days, but after that, the next time he even heard of him, it was only just recently from that fateful day with winning the ticket. "You can say that..." he finally replied.

"Ah. So you've liked him from when he first started?" Toris figured.

Ivan shrugged. He didn't know exactly when Alfred changed himself into "Hero Superstar," so he wasn't able to pinpoint on even a general idea of that.

The brief silence actually caused Toris to shake slightly; however, he desperately tried not to show it in his driving. It would only make matters worse.

"Well, I have known him longer than when he started," Ivan finally admitted, "We at least went to the same academy for school when we were both younger." He placed his head downward from a sad memory. "And since I was older, I had to leave before he did—before we got much chance to really become close friends," he added, "After I left, I don't know what happened, and life took us on separate ways."

Now, Toris was the one who stayed silent. He really didn't know what to say to Ivan. There wasn't much about Alfred that he could tell him either—he's merely Alfred's chauffeur after all. And the thought of him being rather speechless on the matter only made it worse for Toris.

"I'm afraid..." Toris thought out loud in a soft mutter. Realizing the escaped words, and believing that Ivan could have possibly heard him, he quickly made the phrase sound more innocent. "Uh... I'm afraid I can't help you there," he corrected himself, trying to add some sympathy for a more passable effect, "Hero Superstar doesn't really talk much about his past; no one can tell why... Ironically, he very much adores talking a lot about himself to anyone and everyone he sees."

Ivan was curious. Alfred had a secret past? He kept wondering what happened between their youthful days to when Alfred became famous. "Maybe I could ask him about it," he uttered to himself, figuring that if he wanted to satisfy his mind about the matter, he'd best get the information from Alfred himself than Toris, who obviously couldn't tell him beyond that.

Toris merely chuckled nervously from Ivan's words. "You can give it a try," he stated, "But Hero Superstar, unfortunately to his fans, isn't _that_ open-minded. Not even his own agent knows much." With that, Toris glanced at the rear-view mirror to see how Ivan was taking that—and to be on the cautious lookout about him. He didn't see any sign of a takeover from the Russian man, but his expression was more of disappointment and hopelessness on finding out more on his old friend.

For a short moment, Toris stayed quiet, figuring out what to say. "But who knows?" he told Ivan with a reassuring—and forced—smile, "Maybe you'll be one a lucky one where he'll actually tell you that no one else knows about."

Ivan thought about the Lithuanian's words. He held onto them, but he also didn't want to keep his hopes up if Alfred refused even him. He wouldn't be much surprised however; it's not as if the two of them have ever been close-bonded throughout their whole lives. And if that happened, Ivan knew that he had to simply accept that.

–

It wasn't very much longer until Toris pulled into the concert hall's parking lot. The sky was now just bands of orange, purple, and navy as the sun was barely above the horizon.

"We're here," Toris announced, parking the car. He opened his door and stepped out to get to Ivan's door.

Meanwhile, the Russian glanced at his watch to see what time it was.

_8:25 pm_

It was still another thirty-five minutes until the concert officially starts. That means, Ivan would get a half hour backstage with Alfred before his performance. With that thought in his mind, he could feel his heart pound in anticipation each and every second that passed by.

He soon heard his car door open, with Toris standing behind it. He figured Toris didn't really have to open it for him, but he merely figured that it must just be a habit for him being rather submissive that way. Ivan took a deep breath and sighed before stepping outside of the car.

"This way," Toris gestured, and walked ahead to lead Ivan to the concert hall. Ivan followed, his eyes soon blinded to the bright indoors. He soon noticed the crowd that had formed in the lobby, but he managed to follow his guide towards the other side of the massive hallway.

"Is it always this crowded whenever he performs?" Ivan asked, both him and Toris escaping the crowd into a more still area.

"Most of them, yes," Toris replied, still leading the way, "Only if we go to major places like here. But whenever we go on tour to smaller towns, the crowds are only half that size over there. But he has a slight preference to big cities since he claims that it fits into his popularity—'the more fans that show up, the more famous I become!' is what he says. I guess that's why you appear to have traveled in order to attend here."

With a turn into the back hallway, its grand size quickly shrunk to where barely a couple people could stand side-by-side with each other. It led to a small area with a red door at the end.

"Here we are," Toris explained walking up to the door.

Ivan soon held his breath as he got closer to the door. This was it; within moments, he would finally meet Alfred again after so long. _"__Я интересую чем он как теперь__,"_ Ivanwondered.

_Translations:_

"Да" (da) – "Yes"

"Я интересую чем он как теперь" (Ya intieriesuyu cheiem on kak tiepie') – "I wonder what he is like now"

**A/N** ~ Gah! Another cliffhanger for everyone... Sorry. Must be the subconscious style for this story.

For those who want to see Alfr—Hero Superstar—in this already, I _promise_ he'll be in the next chapter! XD;;; I honestly can't believe I've written this much without an appearance of him so far...

As for my Russian, I'm sorry if I possibly got that last sentence wrong. I'm still just learning it. If anyone knows Russian fluently, I appreciate any and all corrections if I ever run into them.


End file.
